Shirley Bassey Lights My Fire

As I was digging this morning through my local charity shop, which to be fair, is kind of hit or miss. More hit than miss lately. This is a joint where someone pulled the first three Fela records right before I walked in one day, so since day one, really, it hasn’t let me down. It’s a place I’ve found some really great Soul 45s, Hip Hop 12″s, and a gang of Jazz and Reggae. I was able to sneak in early today to check out the vinyl. I didn’t even make it to the vinyl because besides vinyl, this place has clothes, books, and shoes. Recently, speaking of shoes, I saw a pair of 70’s looking New Balance in J.Crew going for like $150. $150? Seriously? With two kids, that’s a bit much for some kicks. How about the original pair in the thrift NOS (new old stock) for $8? That being said, I raced to the vinyl. I knew it was going to be a good day as they replaced the old spindle 45 case with one of those heavy duty 60’s jobs. Of course they wouldn’t sell it to me, but I managed to pull out some 49 cent goodness. I have been looking for a clean copy of Friend and Lover’s “Reach Out For The Darkness” on Verve for a while and I also was able to scoop up another copy of The Pointer Sisters “Yes We Can” on Blue Thumb. How can you pass those two up. I also scored a clean copy of Francoise Hardy’s S/T French Folk record on Reprise. So far so good in one crate. As I flipped through the entire Robert Goulet catalog in another crate, I noticed a mint cope of Is Really Something by Shirley Bassey. My man Andy Smith turned me on to that record a bunch of years ago, so when I see it, I always get it. You can never have too many copies of “Spinning Wheel”, or the record I’m highlighting today, a cover of the Doors classic “Light My Fire”.

If you’re not familiar with Miss Bassey, you may have heard of her and not known it. Sampled by artists such as Kanye West, 50 Cent, Emimem and Peanut Butter Wolf among others, Miss Bassey has a soft spot in the MPC’s and SP12’s of the Hip Hop world. This very song was remixed by Kenny Dope, and I will include a link to that as well, it is that good. So it looks like today is Dame Shirley Bassey day, all day. Don’t get it twisted, Shirley has some heat…..”Theme from Love Story” anyone? Thant’s just my opinion, I guess I have a soft spot for her too.